The Slightest Hope

Chapter 17

ROSE'S POV

Harry lay on the couch with Drew, reading from newspapers of the deaths of military men, creating small back stories for them. I smiled at a particularly sweet on as Harry chuckled. I was in the kitchen making homemade Mac and cheese for dinner, Drew's favorite.

Drew still had no idea of what had occurred between Harry and me. I wore long sleeves to avoid confrontation over the bruises Harry had left and I never told him why Harry was gone for a few days. Or that we kissed. The soft tingle of the memory sent a shiver down my spine. Harry loved me. And I loved him. My own little fairy tale in New York.

"Dinner's ready!" I called to the boys as I pulled the hot pasta out of the oven. It smelled heavenly and I reluctantly set it on the table, not wanting to share.

"Yummy, Sissy. Looks good!" Drew smiled as he slapped his thighs in anticipation. Harry took a seat beside me as I scooped it into plates. Steaming fresh and cheesy.

I patiently let it cool as I talked about work. Pam was becoming increasingly nicer with every client and I guessed she was getting payed more. Money makes her smile, like all other business people.

I stabbed the fork into the dinner, prepared to take a big bite, when a knock on the door interrupting my meal. I groaned as I pushed my seat away from the table, walking towards the door.

I yanked it open with a slightly irritated expression.

"Hello?" A young woman said. A soft blonde holding a young boy in her arms, no older than 3. I heard gasps from the table as Harry pushed past me, staring in awe.

"Elizabeth?" Harry asked.

~~~~~

HARRY'S POV

I hugged her frail body in my arms as deep cries escaped me. She was skinnier now, paler, but still carried her vibrant glow. The boy hugged his tiny arms around my legs as I sobbed. Elizabeth was crying too as we held each other in an unspoken love.

I don't know how long we stood there while tears were pouring, one for every minute we had been apart. When Elizabeth pulled away, her deep blues showed sadness, and I could tell she missed me as much as I had missed her.

"Harry. You're so grown. And so handsome!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she brushed my curls out of my eyes. I still couldn't speak, tears making their last escapades. The boy tugged on my pants leg, gazing at me with gentle brown eyes.

"Uncle?" He asked softly. I crouched down to his level, smiling at him.

"Hey, Blake. My name's Harry." I said as held a large hand out to him. He placed his small one in mine, engulfing his tiny hands. Blake grinned up at me, twanging my heart. He was defiantly Josh's kid.

"He's your nephew. You look alike." Elizabeth stated as she rubbed my back in small circles. She grabbed my arm, pulling me up to her eye level. The radiant face I had missed so much stared at me with deep understanding. I ran a thumb over her cheek, confirming she was really there.

"Harry, there is a reason I came down here today. There's something that I couldn't tell you simply over email." Elizabeth confessed, giving me a guilty look.

"What?" I asked, curious. She had my full attention. Maybe she remarried? Was she pregnant?

"Harry." A voice said, a voice so filled with sympathy, but it wasn't the tender voice of a woman or a child. It was a man.

I turned slowly, expecting nothing as I came face to face with an unrecognizable, crippled man. He had no hair or eyebrows, and his face was burned to the bone. Legs sat unmoving in a wheelchair and his right forearm was missing. All of these features were unfamiliar to me. Except for the brown eyes that stared at me with unsaid remembrance. This battered corpse that was barely alive was my brother.

"Josh?"I asked, unsure how he was even living.

"Hello again." He smiled, only appearing on the left side of his face. The right was too far burned and probably paralyzed. I bent down in front of him, placing my hand over his charred one.

I hugged his legs to my chest as I sobbed, harder then I had for Elizabeth, harder then when I told Drew about Josh's death, and even harder then when I lost Rose. Josh stroked my curls soothingly as I broke down. Elizabeth rubbed my back again and Blake hugged my sides. I couldn't feel their arms though, all I felt was Josh and his pulse and the blood running through his veins. He was alive. I cried again as I trembled, unable to control it. The pain of his loss and the mourning poured out of me with my tears. Josh, my best friend, my brother, my role model, and family was alive.

"Harry." He said. His voice was a harsh whisper, as if it pained him to speak. I glanced up at him with wet eyes. Tears were streaming down his face as well, though only a couple.

"How?" I managed through shaking sobs. I couldn't explain farther through the trembling sobs wanting to be released.

Elizabeth spoke for him," A few weeks after you left, the hospital called saying they found him in the rubble, barely breathing, but alive. They held him for a year, as he was unresponsive to many treatments. Then finally they found a treatment that actually worked. His vocal chords have been burnt badly so it is harder for him to speak and there is much damage on the surface. None of that matters to us though just as long as he's alive." She choked up on her sentence, setting Blake in my arms as she kissed his non-disintegrated cheek.

"I love you..." Josh croaked with a smile, caressing her face with his able hand. She responded with a gentle hug, careful not to hurt him.

"Do you want to join us for dinner?" I heard Rose ask. I turned to her watery blues as she hugged a crying Drew close to her body.

"We'd love to." Elizabeth smiled, pushing Josh's wheelchair through the door.

In that moment, I knew everything was perfect. My two families had come together as one. And I was the happiest man on the planet as I slipped my hand into Rose's, walking together inside where my family awaited.